1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a substrate processing system and a substrate processing method for processing substrates, such as semiconductor wafers or glass substrates for LCDs (liquid crystal displays).
2. Description of the Related Art
For example, a known resist film removing process for removing a resist film coating a surface of a semiconductor wafer (hereinafter referred to simply as “wafer”) included in semiconductor device fabricating processes exposes a wafer placed in a processing chamber to a mixed processing fluid prepared by mixing ozone and steam to alter the resist film into a water-soluble film by oxidation, and then removes the water-soluble film with pure water. A general substrate processing system that performs such a resist film removing process is provided with a plurality of processing chambers, and ozone generated by a single ozone generator is distributed through ozone supply pipes to those processing chambers. The ozone generator generates ozone by discharging electricity in an oxygen-containing gas prepared by mixing oxygen gas and nitrogen gas.
In a general substrate processing system that distributes a processing fluid generated by a single source through branch lines to a plurality of processing chambers, there is the possibility that a wafer loading and unloading operations performed at one of the processing chambers affects on the processing condition of the process being performed in the other processing chambers. For example, in a substrate processing system in which a single processing fluid source supplies a processing fluid through branch lines to two processing chambers, the pressure and flow rate of the processing fluid being supplied to one of the processing chamber vary when a wafer is carried into or carried out of the other processing chamber and thereby the uniformity of a resist-solubilizing process is reduced. Consequently, the uniformity and reliability of the effects of the subsequent processes, such as a resist film removing process and etching process, are deteriorated.